Huddersfield 1-3 Chelsea talking points: Eden Hazard superb, Chelsea’s run-in and Huddersfield’s passionate fans
We take a look at the biggest talking points as Chelsea returned to winning ways with a 3-1 victory at Huddersfield on Tuesday,.
Goals from Tiemoue Bakayoko, Willian and Pedro gave Antonio Conte’s side all three points following their 1-0 loss at West Ham on Saturday, leaving them 11 points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City ahead of their trip to Swansea on Wednesday.
Here, Gerard Brand looks at the biggest issues to come out of the clash at the John Smith’s Stadium…
Brilliant Hazard
This was Eden Hazard at his very best, but more notably, at his unselfish best. So noble in fact, that he insisted Willian took his man-of-the-match award after the game.
Fantasy Football players would be forgiven for suspecting Hazard had captained his team-mate Willian this game week, such was the frequency in which he found the Brazilian in the final third.
Hazard’s flick opened up space for the opening goal for Bakayoko, and he continued the trick throughout the game, with Huddersfield struggling to cope with his first touch.
The Belgian, when he wants to, can change the pace of an attack with one touch, and on Tuesday night he showed that at his best, there are not many better.
Willian ended up with a goal and two assists, but Hazard was the star of the show off paper, also winning eight of his 10 tackles – more than any other Chelsea player.
Chelsea’s favourable run
Before the game, Conte all-but wrote off Chelsea’s chances of a title challenge, and said top four is now priority.
Whether he was bluffing or not, we’ll never know, but Chelsea’s fixture list between now and spring is certainly favourable.
They only play one top-six side between now and the end of February (Arsenal away, January 3), and the average position of their opponents in the eight games up to February 24 is just 15th.
There are no easy games in the Premier League, but the less-than stressful fixture list could benefit Chelsea in both Europe and the domestic cup competitions.
One for the future?
At 17 years and 89 days old, Ethan Ampadu became the second-youngest Chelsea player to make an appearance in the Premier League after Jody Morris (17 years 43 days).
Coming on with 10 minutes remaining, midfielder Ampadu wasn’t given much time to stamp a mark, but was hugely impressive in two Carabao Cup games earlier this season.
He is also the son of Kwame Ampadu, who made over 500 appearances during an 18-year career as a midfielder for Arsenal, West Brom, Swansea, Leyton Orient and Exeter.
Though the youngster has played twice for the Welsh national team in recent friendlies against Panama and France, he is also eligible for England, although Welsh fans will correctly point out that their side were above the Three Lions in the world rankings until recently…
Huddersfield’s home advantage
On the pitch, there wasn’t much to shout about. Huddersfield’s game plan was crushed by Chelsea’s quality, but that didn’t flatten the atmosphere at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Huddersfield’s home fans were a credit to their side, bouncing throughout in the freezing temperatures, and they were rewarded with a late piece of quality from Laurent Depoitre.
With Huddersfield’s last five wins coming at home, their passionate support will be vital as they look to build on the five-point gap between themselves and the drop zone.
As Chelsea took their foot off the gas, there was time for banter between fans, as Chelsea supporters sang: „Champions of England, you’ll never sing that“ to Huddersfield, who won the first division title in 1924, 1925 and 1926.
„You’re not champions any more“, replied the home fans, to which Chelsea fans sang: „Champions of England, we’ll sing it ’til May.“ Resignation, perhaps?
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